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A court in the United States ruled on Monday to disqualify lawyers representing a firm connected to the Magnitsky fraud case, after they had switched sides to defend a company accused of money laundering.

Hermitage Capital Management, the company of late Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, has demanded that Lithuanian prosecutors reopen a suspended investigation into the laundering of tens of millions of dollars believed to have been siphoned from the Russian government. But months later, authorities still haven’t moved on new evidence.

Banking records obtained by OCCRP show that cellist Sergei Roldugin, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s old friend, received money from an offshore company at about the same time it was being used to steal money from the Russian government in the notorious Sergei Magnitsky case.

A firm co-owned by Australian political strategist, Sir Lynton Crosby, allegedly accepted £45,000 (US$ 64,818) to work for a member of a Russian crime gang implicated in the death of anti-corruption whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, BuzzFeed said.

Nikita Kulachenkov, a Russian opposition activist and ally of anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, may be about to be released after spending two weeks in detention in Cyprus at the request of the Russian Federation, according to Navalny’s blog. Russia has been seeking his extradition, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Dutch Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt questions whether Cyprus is paying “lip service” to international money laundering regulations after its failure to go after banks involved in money laundering in the scandalous and tragic Sergei Magnitsky case, reported the EU Observer.

Adam Szubin, acting US Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been amassing secret wealth and that the United States considers him to be corrupt, reported Reuters.

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) said on Friday that it would set “operational restrictions” on Trasta Komercbanka barring the bank from carrying out debit transactions in any currency, including through online banking, ATMs, and by cash to customers for any amount in excess of € 100,000 (US$ 108,000).

An inquest into the November 2012 death of Russian tycoon Alexander Perepilichny has been further delayed because Surrey police invoked public interest immunity (PII) to withhold 49 key documents in relation to the case, reported The Sun.

The Presnensky District Court of Moscow dismissed opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s suit against Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika reported Sputnik. A spokesperson of the court told RIA Novosti that the petition was returned to the applicant because it was outside the court’s jurisdiction, however, the dismissal of the case may be politically motivated.

Sergei MagnitskyA United States bill which would allow authorities to bar corrupt foreign officials and those responsible for human rights abuses from entering the US and using its financial institutions has moved a step closer to possible adoption.

The bank theft was so outsized and bold that citizens of the Republic of Moldova came out in the streets this past May by the thousands to protest: “We want our billion back!”

They used the number -- US$ 1 billion – that news accounts reported had gone missing from three Moldovan banks in November of 2014. Unsure who to blame, the protestors denounced the government, politicians, banks and organized crime.

French authorities have launched an investigation into money laundering and organized crime activities in France, Monaco and Luxembourg connected to the Magnitsky Affair, the largest tax fraud in Russian history.